ECRI Institute creates Ebola Price Index

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The ECRI Institute has created a new benchmark database of prices paid for personal protective equipment (PPE).

The free service is part of its Ebola Resource Center, which provides ECRI-authored guidance on risk and patient safety, technology management, and important pricing data.

The price index includes PPE products in nine key categories with manufacturer make and model, and low, average, and high prices paid.

Initial pricing data comes directly from members of ECRI Institute's PriceGuide, an advisory service for the procurement of medical/surgical supplies and implants. The index will be updated as more hospitals—members and nonmembers—contribute additional pricing data.

“The Ebola PPE Price Index provides a free benchmarking service that hospitals can use now, and importantly, it establishes a mechanism to create a crowdsourced, ongoing resource for pricing,” said Dr Jeffrey Lerner, president and chief executive officer, ECRI Institute. “Pricing transparency can help forestall potentially excessive price rises for PPE if demand grows.”

Timothy Browne, director, PriceGuide, ECRI Institute, added: “Our first step in creating the index was to reach out to manufacturers of protective personal equipment and ask them for their list of recommended products for Ebola. This is the first time we’ve released such a comprehensive list of products and prices outside of the scope of our PriceGuide membership.”

Hospitals are encouraged to participate in ECRI Institute’s crowdsourcing effort to create a robust, reliable, and free resource that aims to help keep prices in the appropriate range. Details on submitting data are available on the website.